The semiconductor industry makes wide use of quick turn around prototype semiconductor devices. The deadlines imposed for the design, fabrication, and final assembly of such devices can be quite short. Increasingly, manufacturers are requiring that their prototypes more closely resemble the projected final product. In order to meet this requirement of a more finished prototype product additional process steps are frequently required to complete the prototypes to a satisfactory degree. Thus, such prototypes are taking increasingly longer to produce. As a result, any time saving design or assembly features are very desirable.
One portion of the fabrication process that can take a significant amount of time is the attachment of a heatspreader to a package and the subsequent encapsulation of the die in the package. This is conventionally a multi-step process requiring the adhesive attachment of a heatspreader to a die package assembly and an associated cure cycle for the adhesive. Additionally, substantial machine set-up time is required to prepare the heatspreader attachment and cure process. A subsequent encapsulation step is used to form a mold cap that encapsulates and protects the die as well as other components of the die package. Again, substantial machine set-up time is required to prepare the packages for encapsulation. Also, encapsulants require significant cure times. All of this contributes significantly to the manufacturing time required to assemble semiconductor die packages. Although such long assembly process times significantly extend semiconductor package assembly times for “production” semiconductor packages, they impose even more significant delays in the fabrication of prototype semiconductor packages which are commonly in need of short turn around times.
Thus, an improved semiconductor package and assembly process capable of reducing the amount of time required to manufacture semiconductor packages is needed.